Gotham City is Burning
by mm24aurora
Summary: What Rachel might've been thinking while on the roof and why she wrote what she did in her letter to Bruce. Major spoilers for 'The Dark Knight'.


This is just something I typed up in twenty minutes after watching The Dark Knight (major spoilers for the movie) the second time. I feel so sad that we didn't hear more from Rachel, cause Maggie did such a good job of portraying her. This is just me putting down some of the things she might have thought in that time she was on the roof.

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Bruce would have been surprised at how easily her decision had been made if he had known. Alfred will probably understand, though she hopes he knows better than the give her letter to Bruce now. Because in her heart she knows that she has only a little more than five minutes to live. She would have known even without the message the Joker had left her on the answering machine in front of her.

"Hello beautiful Rachel. Your current predicament is rather peculiar." His chilling voice woke her abruptly and she barely heard the rest of his speech through her horror at her surroundings. "You see, you're tied here and your bridegroom is tied there and time will only allow your friends – one in particular – to save one. To be perfectly honest, if the game is played properly, it probably won't be you." He smacked his lips and paused. "Nothing personal, you understand. Of course, I could be wrong and our friend Harvey is the one they pull out of the fire in pieces…only time will tell."

The silence that followed was deafening to her. It was either to be her or Harvey. And so it must be her, because the alternative was unthinkable to her. Harvey Dent was the one ray of hope for her beloved Gotham City and she loved him so dearly. He had to live because she would not go on without him. She could not live without the mischievous smile and that sweet sense of humour and his sheer determination to do the right thing for Gotham.

Then a thought occurred to her. Without her, what would he be? Where would he be?

Harvey was not like Bruce. Bruce was strong. Underneath the billionaire playboy persona he was Batman. Bruce Wayne was just an alter-ego for the true man. He was a superhero, a child's fantasy come to life. She knew now that he could no more separate himself from Batman than he could from his heart or soul. And she could not be with him. He was an idea, a cause that was meant to be loved from afar. And a cause can survive the death of one woman, even if that woman was Rachel Dawes. But Harvey might not be able to. She could still see his eyes when he told her that he had found something to fight for. So she starts screaming.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME!?"

And then she hears his disoriented voice call her name. She was not surprised to hear of his predicament but she could hear the fear catch his voice when he knew of hers. She tells him that help was coming and that only one of them would make it. She wishes they had more time. She wishes she could just sit there and listen to him speak for longer, because she knows that no matter what happens, she will never get another chance to just sit and hear Harvey Dent speak. She wishes now that she could go back and savour the times where she was able to sit in court and watch him work, that she could live forever in those moments.

She tells him that they she did not want their friends to come for her. And she means it, though a part of her who has loved Bruce all her life still wonders. Maybe beneath the CEO playboy and beneath even Batman was just a man who loved her enough to choose her over the city he has vowed to protect. And she hopes that he does not. She hopes he knows that she would want him to save Harvey and Gotham. She hopes that he does not but she also hopes that he wants to. She wants him to want to save her. She wants him to love her more than he loves Batman. She wants him to be that boy she played with as a child.

But there was not enough time to think of Bruce anymore. She could hear Harvey gasping and tries to get him to speak again. And the clock continues to tick, and she only has a minute to live. There was so much that she wanted to tell him. And finally she decides to tell him that she wants him. She thinks he needs to hear it. And she means it too, because she could think of nothing she wants more right now than to be forever near Harvey Dent. The words taste bitter against her tongue as she tells him how much she loves him.

Thoughts swam in and out of her head before she could process them. She had no time and she could not think or see anything beyond the clock ticking down. And then she hears a bang over the telephone. It takes her a second to register what it is. Then she hears Harvey's horrified screaming.

"WHY DID YOU COME FOR ME?!"

And she knows completely that her time was out. And she closes her eyes though it does not stop the tears.

"Alright," she tells herself. And Harvey's still screaming for her.

"It's alright Harvey." She tries to be reassuring but fails miserably at it. Because she does not want to die, and she was so frightened, but she had to be strong for them. Bruce is there, a part of her mind processed. Bruce did not come for me. And that one thought should not have broke her heart, but it did. And she pauses, wasting precious time she did not have, as she considered yelling out to him that he's doing the right thing. But he was Batman, and Batman must have known. Batman will survive. But Harvey…

In those final seconds she had a sudden premonition of Harvey Dent destroyed by this. And there was no time. But she saw the anger and the rage and the white knight that he was disintegrate into something far more sinister. But there was no time. And his words echoed in her head. "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." No time. Her heart bleeds for him in her last moments. She opens her mouth to tell him to keep fighting for her and for all people. She watches the last second of the clock tick away and she wishes she has more time.

And her last thought was not of Bruce and her silly letter to him. Nor was it of Harvey and what he might become. It was not even of her and the future the Joker stole from her. The last thing Rachel Dawes thinks about is her city. The home and the people she had spent her whole life fighting to protect. Oh how she loved this city.

Then her world is blown away as the heat and light penetrate her mind and flesh and the last thing she sees is Gotham City burning.


End file.
